Earn all the Seals in every level.

Achievement Guide for Perfection

Achievement won on 13 Apr 13TA Score for this game: 866
Posted on 08 May 13 at 20:16, Edited on 26 August 13 at 14:27

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Each level in the game has three level-specific goals, called "seals," for you to accomplish. Once you've gotten a seal, it's permanent. You can die, reset the checkpoint, or even start your New Game + playthrough, and the seal will still show up as having been obtained. This can be handy if you're trying to get through a level without being seen and you are spotted while accomplishing the feat required by the seal; just reset the checkpoint, and there's no need to try for the seal again.

The seals for each level are shown below; suggested solutions for where to obtain these seals are hidden behind spoiler tags in case you only want to see information on a particular level. Take note that these are not step-by-step instructions, just where best to accomplish your tasks.

Happy hunting.

Level 1: Ink and Dreams1. Ring Azai's Large Gongs2. Rescue all the Ninja3. Save Azai without being detected

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 1, part 1/4: After you acquire the darts, you'll find a room with 2 guards standing directly under a chandelier. Past them and outside, you'll see a guard facing you outside and Ora will say "We need to make him look the other way." Use your darts to hit the gong on the other side of him and make him turn around.• Seal 1, part 2/4: When Ora says "I scouted up ahead," there's a gong practically right next to you.• Seal 1, part 3/4: Immediately after the second gong, there's another about twenty feet past it and slightly above it. Be careful as this one will bring an enemy when you ring it.• Seal 2: The enemy that gong 3 brings out comes from the building in which all four ninja are being held. There are four rooms with a ninja in each one; free them all.• Seal 1, part 4/4: The top right room in the building with the ninja has an exit vent in the top right that leads outside to the next gong. This one will also bring enemies, unless you kill them all before ringing it.• Seal 3: You are treated to a small cutscene when you get to Azai's room. You have to remain undetected from the cutscene up to you freeing him. There are a number of ways, but the easiest by far is to just drop down behind the two guards and stealth kill one, then the other. Hide their bodies for an extra 250 each before freeing Azai, if you like. There's a handy vent right there in the floor (while dragging a body over a vent, push down and B to throw the body into the vent).

Level 2: Breaching the Perimeter1. Reach the Transformer in under a minute2. Reach the top of the Tower without being detected3. Destroy at least 20 lights

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 3, note: Start destroying lights when you see them. You need to break 20 for one of the seals. There are well over twenty in this level, so if there are a couple that are giving you trouble by drawing unwanted attention, just skip them. I did not break a single light until arriving at the transformer - the three in that room were my first. I'll keep you updated with a count starting from there as we go, but you’ll probably be ahead of me, so keep that in mind when you look at my counts.• Seal 1: Like many seals, your objective isn’t to accomplish the stated goal from the beginning of the level, but rather from a specific point. It’s not until your objective becomes "Destroy the Transformer," that you have 1 minute to get to the transformer to get one of the seals. It's not terribly difficult - it's just past a series of guards in a two-level area. You can get through here, with a little work, without killing any of the guards and in well under a minute. If you're killing guards as you go, it's a cakewalk.• Seal 3, lights 1-3: Immediately after the seal "Get to the transformer in under 1 minute" unlocks, you'll find yourself in the transformer room. Here's where I started with these three lights. You probably already have some broken by now, so you should be ahead of me.• Seal 3 count update: When you get the objective "Get inside the security tower", you should have at least 6 lights broken.• Seal 2, and Seal 3 count update: Your objective as you enter the security tower should become "Scale the Skyscraper". At this point I had 13 lights broken. You must remain undetected from this point until the end of the level. It's okay if you kill guards, but you cannot set off an alert if you want that seal.• Seal 3: I broke my 20th light and finished that seal soon after entering the 17th floor. There are many lights left if you're behind my count, though.

Level 3: The Trail of Shadow1. Access the communications tower without being detected2. Kill six of the courier’s guards3. Fill five dumpsters with dispatched guards

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 3, part 1/3: Although it's the last seal listed, you'll need to start work on hiding bodies in dumpsters first. By the time you enter the first building, you will have passed three dumpsters. You should fill every one of those with a guard's body.• Seal 3, part 2/3: After your first lock pick, you’ll be introduced to your first shielded enemy. Below him is another dumpster and some guards; one of them should be dead and in that dumpster by the time you leave.• Seal 1: You’ll be notified when this seal is available, immediately after you get your upgrades. That marks the beginning of when you need to stay undetected. Ora will make a comment about all the guards around the tower. If you didn't get your upgrades yet, backtrack about 10 feet and look for a flag-bearing structure you can press B on. From here, just make your way undetected to the tower. There are about a dozen viable avenues, and if you're killing people it's pretty straightforward. Don't forget you have noisemakers if you need them, though.• Seal 2 and Seal 3, part 3/3: After you spot the courier, you'll be going for both your remaining seals. One of them is stuffing that last guard body in a dumpster. You'll find one as you trail the courier. The other seal can be a bit tricky: you need to kill all six guards between spotting the courier and the next checkpoint (not including the courier, who you cannot touch), and none of them can sound an alarm. It's fairly easy to trail along behind him and start taking them out once he's past, but the last guy can be tricky because of the dog that's right there. Just move quickly and you’ll be okay.A checkpoint reset takes you back to where you first see the courier if you mess up.

Level 4: A Change in Course1. Terrify a guard by killing another with a spike mine2. Open all the gas vents3. Kill two guards with a single chandelier

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 1: Make sure you enter the building beneath the first guard to get the spike mines – it’s tough to kill someone with them if you don’t pick them up. After the first two guards, the next room has two normal guards, a shield-carrying guard, and a dog. Quickly get to the grappling point above the chatting guards, move as far left as possible, then grapple to the leftmost grappling point, just to the right of the far left wall. When the shielded guy moves off to the right, throw a mine at the foot of the stairs and wait. The shielded guard should step on it right in front of another guard, who will get terrified for your first seal. • Seal 2, part 1/2: When you're told to start opening gas "vents" (I'll be calling these valves to prevent confusing them with the vents you crawl through), keep in mind you'll be told you can leave after 3, but you need all 6 for the seal. All of them are accessible from the elevator shaft, which I'll use as a starting point for all 6. o Gas valve 1: go through the first vent on your right from the bottom and follow it around. After the valve, you'll be able to jump right back in the shaft. o Gas valve 2: back down to the second vent from the bottom on your left (the first one goes the same place but this is faster). o Gas valve 3: back from the shaft, the next vent up the right side. Do not return back the way you came; instead follow the vent along the top of the room all the way to the right and up to enter a larger room that has the next valve. o Gas valve 4: the valve is sitting right in the middle of this room. Before you bother with it, take care of your next seal.• Seal 3: The goal is to get two of the guards to investigate a noise or otherwise come underneath the chandelier in this room. I did this by sitting on one of the grappling points to the side of the chandelier and leading them there with noisemakers. Once they're in place, one dart to the chandelier kills both of them, nets you plenty of points, and gets you your seal. This can be tricky if you're as impatient as I am. You can replenish your noisemakers, or switch to them, at the nearby upgrade point (look for the flag alone by itself in a room to the left of the elevator shaft). Don't forget to open the valve below you once you're done, that should be your fourth.• Seal 2, part 2/2: o Gas valve 5: back in the elevator shaft to the left, and you should be looking at the upgrade point. You'll need smoke bombs coming up, so grab them now. Following this path will wrap around and take you to the next valve. Be careful, the checkpoint here is further back than you would probably like. o Gas valve 6: Back to the elevator shaft, and the topmost vent on the the left leads to a single room with Gas Valve 6. You need a smoke bomb to get into the room. From there you can disable the power so you have some time, but you'll still need another bomb to exit as the power doesn't turn off the laser on the door. Alternatively, you can use one bomb, jump out, open the valve, and jump back in - but only if you have Superior Lockpicks. Even then it's a tight window. That's your last seal.

Level 5: The Fall of Hessian Tower1. Terrify a guard by hanging another from a grappling point2. Reach the end without breaking any lights3. Kill Kelly without raising the alarm

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 2: Do not break lights in this level. You will be awarded a seal for not breaking lights when you reach the final room, at which point you can break them if you feel like it. If you break a light, you’ll be reminded that this is a no-no by a notification telling you you’ve failed the seal. Reset your checkpoint if that happens, and you’re good to go.• Upgrades: You should see the upgrade point, but if Ora mentions the elevator and you didn't see it, retreat back to your right until you stumble on it, out on the balcony a couple of rooms away. You should pick up Grim Harbinger, which will make the next seal easier.• Seal 1: After you bypass the elevator, the next room has a grappling point that you can hang a guard from and scare the other guard. This is much easier with Grim Harbinger: drop into the room, hang from the platform you land on until you can drop on the guard and kill him. Drag him right until you're under the grapple point, then grapple up to it without dropping him to hang him from it. If you don’t have Grim Harbinger, you have to do that part differently: from the checkpoint, move very quickly, throwing a smoke bomb against the ceiling at the laser point so you can grapple through the smoke to the grapple point. Immediately dangle down and hit X as soon as prompted to grab the guard and string him up. Once he’s strung up, drop straight down and wait for the guard under you to be directly under you. Run for two steps and calmly walk right as far as you can without being killed by the laser. He will look up and see the guard, then become terrified.• Seal 3: You'll get seal 3 automatically if you get through the level undetected. Technically, it's only vital that you get from the cutscene showing Karajan leaving Kelly in charge until the end of the level.

Level 6: An Ancestral Home1. Stealth kill all the guards in the catacombs2. Sneak into the castle without being detected3. Lure a guard into a stealth kill using a body

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 3: Soon after starting the level, Ora will make the comment "How are you going to get in there," and you'll be told the optional seal "Sneak into the castle without detection" is available. First, grab this other seal. Stealth kill the first guard. Wait until the second guard starts off to the right, then drag the first guard's body to the dumpster. Pushing B once will throw him in, pushing B again will make you jump in and toss him on the ground. Wait there for guard 2 to spot the body and run over; stealth kill him from inside the dumpster to get this seal. You should pop the Snare achievement if you don’t have it (its requirements are the same as the seal’s), and Deadly Shadows as well.• Seal 2: From that spot, you just need to get to the top of the area and through the door without detection. The easiest approach is probably to stealth kill everybody in the area.• Seal 1: When you enter the catacombs (the words "The Catacombs" will splash across your screen), stealth kill every single guard from that point on. There are seven.

Level 7: Above a Bottomless Chasm1. Kill 3 gasmask guards while they are walking in poison gas2. Hide 3 bodies in the final room3. Ride the crate to the top of the shaft without getting off

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 1: You need to kill three gas mask guards while they're standing in the poisonous gas. You get one opportunity pretty early on, when you set the first crate in motion. There are two there. At the next moving crate, there's one more. That should do it. Just be careful to move fast when you take these guys out, as you can't stay in the gas long.• Seal 3: The next crate is at the bottom of a shaft, to the right of some stairs, and there are two guards nearby. The next seal starts at this point: ride the crate to the top without getting off. Pull the lever next to the crate and grapple to the bottom of the crate. It's going to go past three guards, one on your left, then your right, then your left again; to stay hidden, move to the opposite side of the crate from each guard as you pass them (you'll hang on the right, then left, then right again). The second scroll is behind the last guard, by the way. You'll have to backtrack to get it.• Seal 2: In the last room, you'll push two switches and then pull a lever to start a timer that opens the exit from the level. Good news: that lever is a checkpoint. You need to kill three people and hide their bodies in this room before leaving. Dealer's choice, of course, but if you want the way I did it: Immediately head left and hide in the doorway. A guard walks by you, stealth kill him (A Brief Shadow unlock required) which will hide him in the doorway. Immediately move to the stairs on the right and go up two levels, kill the guard, drag him left to the vent and toss him in. Go in after him, move one vent to the left, wait for that guard and use Emperor's Abyss to stealth kill him and automatically hide the body. Done!

Level 8: The Inner Keep1. Sabotage the helicopter without being detected2. Terrorize a guard into shooting another guard3. Kill three elite guards

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Equipment note: You should have unlocked the terror darts by now; make sure and select them in your equipment screen, they make the first seal pretty trivial.• Seal 1: Any time you see two guards, you can probably get this with the terror dart. One particularly easy place: as soon as you get the checkpoint that splashes the words "Secluded Hallways", open the door on the right, then before the next doorway (you should be outside, with the next door being a lockpick door), drop down. You'll be above two guards, use the terror dart on the rightmost of them, then go back up out of sight and wait. He'll almost always kill two other guards (easy points!), wait until he does before you go down and finish him off.• Seal 2, part 1/3: The first time you see an elite, the game will draw your attention to him. Go under him through the vent, then right outside of the vent, take out the lamp on the other side of the door to pull him over to the right. You'll be standing right next to a switch, wait for the elite to get under the wires and hit the switch. The wires will stun him, when they are done crackling jump up and finish him off. You’ll get an achievement for this if you haven’t done it once before.• Seal 2, part 2/3: immediately after that, you'll see an elite talking to a regular guard; drop the chandelier on them.• Seal 2, part 3/3: from that spot, go right through the lower vent. You'll find a lone guard, after you take him out, you'll be standing over two more elites and a gas-mask guard. I found the easiest way to proceed is to move to the far right of that room, drop down so you're clinging to the ceiling above all of them, then use the terror dart on the gas-mask guard, who will kill both of the elites for you and finish the seal. You can finish him off yourself. If you wind up darting an elite, he'll kill the gas mask guard. If that happens, go through the vent above you to your right and follow that around to a switch that will release gas and kill the elites. • Seal 3: You'll soon get to a checkpoint that splashes the title "The Helipad" across your screen. From that point, you'll need to remain undetected up until you've done either of the two methods that disables the chopper.

Level 9: A Blade at His Neck1. Kill Karajan without being detected2. Pickpocket both keys3. Have all of the dogs in the level smell you

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 2, part 1/2: Pickpocket both keys. There are two keys you need to retrieve, both on guards. You need to get close to the guards and pickpocket them (B, then follow button prompt). You'll see key carrier 1 immediately. Go around him and his two buddies by moving above him, drop down to the right, and in the floor vent outside you'll find a way to disable the lasers. Then you can go back above him and dangle down from the anchor point to pickpocket the key. Feel free to kill all three of these guys afterward.• Seal 3, part 1/3:Get smelled by all the dogs. After you go past the first door with the keycard, go down the first vent you see. Stay down all the way to the left, and you'll come out in an area with an elite guard and a dog. You can easily be smelled and the get away by clinging to the ceiling below the dog until he has passed, then pop up (he'll smell you immediately, you'll get the notice by the game) and then running back down to hide in the vent.• Seal 3, part 2/3: From there, move all the way left and scale the structure until you see the sleeping dog and one guard. It’s your choice on how to wake up the dog - I threw the ravenous insects at the guard, whose death cries woke him right up. Run back left and hide on the wall above the entrance to that area. Wait until the dog comes close enough to smell you, then scale the structure to remain out of sight. Or just drop down and kill the dog when it gets close enough.• Seal 2, part 2/2: The second guy isn't even facing the right way. As long as you take out his two friends silently, he won't even turn around. If you can, just smoke bomb them and stealth kill both of them while they're still disabled. Walk over to the key carrier and pickpocket him at your leisure. If you do wind up alerting the key carrier before you can pickpocket him, run off and hide until he calms down.• Seal 3, part 3/3: After you open the next door with a keycard, you'll see a crate. Push it right and the last dog is just on the other side of where it stops. It's easy enough to jump inside his smell radius and then run off, or just kill him by your choice of methods. Seal done.• Seal 1: You'll come to the final room and see Karajan protected by a door. From this moment on, you have to stay undetected. You'll need to make your way to the top of the inside of the two towers to the right to power down two doors that protect a generator that apparently is keeping Karajan's door closed. The last seal will unlock when you get to Karajan.

Level 10: A Shattered Stronghold1. Retrieve the keys without using any items2. Recover the sumi without taking any damage3. Get Dosan’s tools without being detected

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Level note: Once you get to your first objective (Dosan), you'll be given three new ones. You can do these in any order, and each one has a seal associated with it. The order I’m listing them is the way you’d encounter them if you stayed above ground all the way to the right, then went underground to come back. By the way, I found flashbangs well worth it on this level. The smokebombs were ineffective against too many enemies.• Seal 1: Get Dosan's tools without being detected. The checkpoint at this objective will call attention to Dosan's needles. Just get to them without being detected for this seal. Cheap tip: you can, if you have trouble with this area, keep throwing ravenous insects at guards and then going back to the upgrade point to refill them. You'll terrorize nearly every guard in the place as well as get 600 points per kill, and it's pretty damn easy.• Seal 2: Get the keys without using items. Assuming you are moving over the roof of the buildings, you’ll hit a yellow flame checkpoint on a building's roof and be shown the key carrier. Once you've gotten there, don't use any items, including darts, until you've gotten to the bottom and taken the keys from the guard. I find it easiest to cling to the ceiling at the beginning (to the left of the top left sniper) and drop down on the first sniper. Back up and drop down again for the second sniper, then make my way down to the bottom right area and stealth-kill the key carrier as soon as he turns his back.• Seal 3: Get the sumi without taking damage. This one is underground, accessible either by going underground right after you leave Dosan, or just to the left of the key carrier. From "Seal 2," just described, enter the building to your left and head left inside it to find the entrance to the underground area. There's a night-vision guard that basically never stops looking where you're headed; throw a flashbang to disable him. From there it's trivial to get to the checkpoint that shows you where the sumi is. Once you've seen that, you have to get the sumi without taking damage. Just kill everyone on the screen one at a time without being spotted – you should have no issues by now. Then you'll have to use the mechanism to move the crate out of your way and quickly drop down to where the sumi is. Watch the trap right next to the mechanism.

Level 11: Set to Flight1. Escape the first stalkers without being seen2. Bypass all bandits without taking damage3. Kill 5 enemies using traps

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 1: You'll have to get through the first area without stalkers spotting you. You'll need to do this for the points, anyway – the point total for three stars is an actual challenge in this level. The stalkers are on high alert, so they're a real pain. Stay away from them, and don't count on hiding spots to keep you hidden if they get close. There's a perfect trap kill on the first stalker - just drop a trap right on her. You must go through this building, but you could easily bypass the entire next building with creative use of Serenity to scale it and cross on the roof... if you didn't need the next scroll, which is in that building.• Seal 2 and Seal 3: For some annoying reason, the stalkers you encounter during the first seal do not count toward killing enemies with traps. Once you've exited the underground tunnel, take care to lure guards into traps. Cause the traps to drop to the ground with a dart, and wait for the fireworks. This next area here is by far the hardest part in the game, especially if you're trying to get both available seals and not raise an alarm. The problem is that the sniper guarding the exit from this area can only be killed by dropping a trap on his head, which then alerts another guard on the same level that comes over and sounds an alarm. Goodbye, 3,000 points. I found that distracting the guard with the gong or the light near him keeps him occupied long enough for you to throw the switch and run drop the trap on the sniper with the guard still out of earshot. The trick then is getting out of there before he gets back and raises an alarm. It may take you a few tries, but it's workable. Use traps wherever possible to kill people, but keep in mind that they will raise an alarm if they find a body. You’ll get the seal for bypassing the bandits when you drop down through the hold to the underground.

Level 12: The Return1. Remain undetected until you recover your equipment2. Stealth kill 3 hallucinations in 15 seconds 3. Stealth kill from a hiding spot after moving to it with Serenity

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***• Seal 1: Just stay undetected, spamming checkpoint resets any time you need. You'll quickly get to where your equipment is, and you'll get the first seal in the level. There’s only one tricky spot, with a couple of guards; just hit the lamp to their left with a dart and run to the vent in the far right wall before they look your way.• Seal 2: Ora will mention the area being covered with stalkers and will suggest you go down into the tunnels to avoid them. On the other side of the building on your right is a gong, and just past it is access to an underground passage. Ring the gong, and when the guard to the right comes to investigate, move past him into the building he was guarding, closing the door behind you. There is a checkpoint to your right that you should trigger. From this point you have 4 guards available; one just outside the left door, one just outside the right door, and two more a little to the right of that. I found it easiest to take out the one on the left, then the right door, then move past that guard to the grapple point above the next patrolling guard on the right. You may have to reset your checkpoint if the next guard sees you kill the third guy, but you've unlocked the seal.• Seal 3: You’ve had plenty of opportunity here, actually, but if you still need it, there’s a perfect spot coming up. Right after the spot just described for seal 2, you'll move over a bunch of enemies using grapple points, finally winding up on top of a tall but narrow structure that has a single guard and a dragon statue on top of it. Cling to the left side and wait until the guard starts walking away from you. As soon as he gets just past the dragon, use Serenity to move to it and immediately stealth kill him from the hiding spot. Assuming you've been keeping up with seals, you'll get the Perfection achievement on the kill.

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